Settling Down
The wind and the hub bub at Kanaha associated with the US Nationals has settled down. Friday we saw the last day of racing action at Kanaha, capping off a very successful week of sailing. Final results are posted on the Maui Sails forum.
I think everyone associated with these races deserves an award. Great job to all the race crew and organizers. Looked to me like it went really well. The racers put on a great show, having to endure some grueling days. It was fun to watch and I'm sure everyone involved will look back on this year's US Nationals with fond memories.
The only minor negative issue I can comment on is that I think these kind of events tend to put off some of the local, non-windsurfers. Certain events over the week showed signs that they felt they were crowded out of "their" park. I think in the future it would be great if local windsurfing shops and clubs could put some effort into educating the native locals about windsurfing, get them involved. There's a very conspicuous absense of native Hawaiians in windsurfing. It's by far a haole-dominated activity. In hindsight, this US Nationals may have missed an opportunity to get some of these locals interested and involved in an activity that fits so well with their ocean-going heritage. Food for thought maybe for the next big windsurfing event here on Maui.
The racers all must have been exhausted from a week of sailing. Yesterday at Kanaha was the least crowded I've seen it in quite awhile, with a notable absence of most racers. The wind yesterday was again in the 4.5 range for me - about what it was all week long.
Winds today have been substantially lighter than we've seen in weeks, with winds topping out in the upper teens - probably 5.5 to 6.0m or bigger sails required for most guys. I'm only speculating on that since it looked to light for me to head down the hill to the beach and check it out. Forecasters are calling for a couple more days of light trades, then picking back up to normal levels mid-week.
I think everyone associated with these races deserves an award. Great job to all the race crew and organizers. Looked to me like it went really well. The racers put on a great show, having to endure some grueling days. It was fun to watch and I'm sure everyone involved will look back on this year's US Nationals with fond memories.
The only minor negative issue I can comment on is that I think these kind of events tend to put off some of the local, non-windsurfers. Certain events over the week showed signs that they felt they were crowded out of "their" park. I think in the future it would be great if local windsurfing shops and clubs could put some effort into educating the native locals about windsurfing, get them involved. There's a very conspicuous absense of native Hawaiians in windsurfing. It's by far a haole-dominated activity. In hindsight, this US Nationals may have missed an opportunity to get some of these locals interested and involved in an activity that fits so well with their ocean-going heritage. Food for thought maybe for the next big windsurfing event here on Maui.
The racers all must have been exhausted from a week of sailing. Yesterday at Kanaha was the least crowded I've seen it in quite awhile, with a notable absence of most racers. The wind yesterday was again in the 4.5 range for me - about what it was all week long.
Winds today have been substantially lighter than we've seen in weeks, with winds topping out in the upper teens - probably 5.5 to 6.0m or bigger sails required for most guys. I'm only speculating on that since it looked to light for me to head down the hill to the beach and check it out. Forecasters are calling for a couple more days of light trades, then picking back up to normal levels mid-week.
posted by Jeff at
4:33 PM
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